Department

Project Management

Project Period

Commissioned by

Context

While the UNFCCC Lima outcome and the UNSG’s Climate Summit, among other developments, reconfirmed that pricing carbon remains a key emissions reduction tool, the focus of international negotiations has shifted from global carbon pricing mechanisms towards support for countries in their implementation of national transformation strategies, often including forms of pricing. But if countries retain flexibility in their policy mix, national carbon prices might continue to differ over longer time horizons and countries are likely to continue to implement free allowance allocation in emission trading schemes as a mechanism for leakage protection – which inevitably blunts the intended carbon price signal .

This would build on the experience of both Korea and some Chinese pilot schemes that use a similar mechanism to re-instate a carbon price signal for electricity consumption that is muted due to electricity regulation. In these schemes, large electricity consumers have to surrender allowances proportional to electricity consumption and a benchmark rate of carbon intensity of power.

This project is led jointly by Climate Strategies and DIW Berlin and delivered by a multidisciplinary, international team of researchers from a number of institutions, representing various fields (EU law and institutions, climate policy and economics, energy market and infrastructure policy and economics).

Over the course of the first year of the project, several workshops were held side-to-side to steering committee meetings. The following provides a list of the meetings, including links to agendas and presenations, starting with the most recent event.